Greenland Temperature Anomaly

NASA launched the climate monitoring TERRA (Earth) satellite in 1999. It carries state-of-the-art sensors that have been studying the interactions among the Earth's atmosphere, lands, oceans, and radiant energy. This April, Terra, gathered data from Greenland indicating a major temperature anomaly from what would normally be expected for early spring on the ice cap. According to NASA:

"the Greenland map shows surface temperatures for April 2016 compared to the 2001–2010 average for the same month. Red areas were hotter than the long-term average; some areas as much as 36 degrees Fahrenheit warmer; while blue areas were below average, and white pixels had normal temperatures.The remarkable aspect is the incredible departure from 2001-2010 average, especially deep in the ice sheet interior."

Researchers who analyzed the data believe such anomalous temperature events will become more common as atmospheric warming in the Arctic produces longer melt seasons. While it is still to early in the year to predict how the melt season will develop but high temperatures continued being recorded in May. NASA continued:

“High temperatures continued being recorded in May suggesting major melt events this summer.”